Daddy Issues

66 - How have you been?

'Emma.'

I hope my smile seems somewhat convincing. I want to look confident and put together. Because that's what I am now. Most of the time, anyway.

With a shimmer of satisfaction, I realize that I look better than him, at least. Of course, I had a moment to prepare myself before facing him. He never saw me coming.

'Glad to know you still remember my name.'

Dan huffs an awkward laugh and scratches at his beard. For some reason, the familiar gesture sends a painful jolt through me. He was always so easy to read.

'It's... I wasn't expecting to see you. Um... how are you?'

'I'm great,' I say jovially, exaggerating just a little bit. 'So great. Just having a fun night out with Mel and Luke.'

I gesture back to our table where Mel and Luke are both watching us incredulously, probably thinking I'm crazy for going over to talk to him. Dan gives them an awkward half-wave that doesn't get returned.

'Luke,' he says. 'That's the guy you went on that date with, right? Are you guys together now?'

'Oh, no,' I laugh. 'Actually, they are.'

I was hanging out at the book store with Mel one day when Luke popped in. With everything that had been going on, I hadn't had much contact with him after that one date, even though we agreed we could be friends.

But that day, the three of us got to talking and we decided to hang out. Pretty soon, we discovered that Luke was a much better match for Mel than he would have ever been for me. They've been dating for about a month now and they're absolutely adorable.

'No way,' Dan says. 'That's nice.'

He smiles more genuinely now. Stupidly, that still makes my heart flutter. But before either of us can say anything more, Dan's distracted when the bar man puts down the drinks he ordered.

He looks a little confused for a moment, torn between staying to talk to me or taking the drinks over to his friends. Before he can make a decision, Avery rushes over.

'Emma!' she exclaims, pulling me in for a hug. 'It's so good to see you. How have you been?'

'I'm good!' I tell her. 'What about you?'

Avery, very kindly, reached out to me after Dan broke up with me. But though I really liked her, I didn't respond much to her. She's just too close to Dan. I couldn't talk to her without thinking about him.

'I'm fine. I miss you, though.'

'Aww, I miss you too,' I tell her truthfully.

'Maybe we can talk a little later?' she suggests while she reaches over the counter to grab the tray of drinks. 'I'll just take these,' she tells Dan.

Before she can leave, he quickly grabs his own beer of the tray and takes a big swig of it too. Avery smiles at me before she walks away, back to the others. Pete gives me a little wave, so I wave back. Yuki and Carlos are watching us a little suspiciously, but they put on a smile and wave too when they catch me watching them.

'Avery really misses you at rehearsals,' Dan tells me. I notice he's somehow finished half his beer already. I must be really making him nervous.

'Yeah, well,' I say uncomfortably. 'It was always fun.'

I would have loved to still be there. I never wanted to give it all up.

But I can't be thinking like that right now.

'How's it going with the band? Did you have any more gigs?'

'We did,' Dan says. 'We had one at the Irish Pub a few weeks ago. It was a lot of fun.